PM Internship Scheme: Low Acceptance Rates Linked To Location & Duration, Govt Tells Lok Sabha

New Delhi: The government on Monday said location considerations and duration of internships are among the reasons for applicants not accepting offers made under the pilot project of the PM Internship Scheme (PMIS).

About The Scheme

The scheme, announced in the 2024-25 Budget, aims to provide internship opportunities to 1 crore youth in top 500 companies in 5 years and is being implemented by the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

The pilot project of PMIS that commenced on October 3, 2024, targets to provide 1.25 lakh internship opportunities to the youth in 1 year and in the first round, 280 partner companies posted more than 1.27 lakh internship opportunities.

MoS Harsh Malhotra's Statement

"Against this, more than 6.21 lakh applications were received from about 1.81 lakh candidates. Partner companies made over 82,000 internship offers and more than 28,000 candidates accepted offers to join the internship. Over 8,700 candidates joined their internship in the round I," Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra told the Lok Sabha on Monday.

In the second round, which started on January 9, 2025, he said 327 partner companies have posted over 1.18 lakh internship opportunities and over 4.55 lakh applications were received from over 2.14 lakh applicants.

As on 12.08.2025, partner companies have made over 82,000 offers to the youth and more than 24,000 candidates have accepted offers to join the internship, he said in a written reply.

"Based on concurrent evaluation and feedback survey carried out by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, outbound calls made by the call centre to the candidates and feedback received from various stakeholders, such as candidates, industry & industry associations and state governments, the reasons for applicants not accepting the offer or not joining the internship are location considerations, duration of internship, pursuance of higher education etc," the minister said.

According to Malhotra, the full-scale rollout of the scheme would be based on the feedback received from the stakeholders, consultations and evaluation of outcomes during the implementation of the pilot project.

The total number of candidates who have completed their profiles and registration process under the PMIS pilot project is over 3.38 lakh in the first round and 3.46 lakh in the second round.

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